Ramey missed time during the season due to a mono diagnosis, but was finally able to be his old self on Tuesday night in a 62-42 drubbing of the Plymouth Big Red in the Division IV sectional semifinal tournament. He scored a team-high 18 points for the Spartans who advance to the sectional title game against Margaretta at 8 p.m. on Friday back at Shelby High School.

These two teams met in the regular season, a 42-34 St. Peter's win, and Ramey didn't reach the scorebook. The very next day, he was diagnosed with mono and missed six games.

Tuesday night, it was like he never left the court.

"I am feeling much better and our team chemistry is much better now," Ramey said. "We have made a lot of improvements since our last game and we put a lot of focus in getting better with that week off."

Head coach Joe Jakubick knows how different his team is with Ramey on the court.

"Jonah got diagnosed the next day with mono and he could have had it since the beginning of the year," Jakubick said. "You saw the kid today and he is not the same kid as Game 1 of the season. It makes us a different team with him out there. He is a tremendous athlete."

"He seemed a lot more active tonight," Shelenberger said. "They did a lot better of getting to the rim and when we stepped up to help, he was the beneficiary getting the dish off under the rim. He has played in big games."

The Spartans executed to perfection on offense while playing their best three quarters of defense all season long. They held Plymouth to jut 17 points through three quarters scoring machine Jacob Adams to just two points in that span.

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St. Peter's Jonah Ramey dishes a pass to the corner during the Spartans' 62-42 win over Plymouth on Tuesday.(Photo: Jake Furr/ News Journal)

"We had to focus on Adams," Ramey said. "He is a great shooter who can drop 50 on teams if he gets hot. We focused on stopping him and we played defense very well."

Jakubick went with the same defensive gameplan as he did during the regular season against the Big Red proving if it isn't broke, don't fix it.

"We played them Box and 1 last time and wanted them to have to have other guys step up and make shots," Jakubick said. "You have to pick your poison. I have seen Jacob Adams on film in many games and he is a tremendous offensive player. We knew, to give ourselves a chance, we had to take him out of his rhythm."

Adams ended the game with 19 points scoring 17 in the fourth quarter, but it was too late as the Spartans already had a 30-point lead.

As impressive as the Spartans' defense was, their offense was even better. They drained five first-half 3-pointers with Luke Henrich making three himself en route to 15 points. Caleb Stewart made one to lead him to 12 points as the Spartans placed three players in double-figures.

"Our shots were falling tonight and it helped our energy throughout the rest of the game," Ramey said. "We had a great start. There is a huge difference from regular season to tournament time in the focus of our team. I am happy we came out with a win."

Henrich credits the 10 days the Spartans had to prepare for Tuesday night.

"We like to take some time off before the tournament starts," Henrich said. "We don't play as late in the season as most teams do so it gives us a lot more time to prepare, go over our sets so we execute and learn as much about our opponent as possible."

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Plymouth's Jacob Adams scored 19 points in his final game in a Big Red uniform on Tuesday night.(Photo: Jake Furr/ News Journal)

The last game the Spartans played before Tuesday was an 86-47 loss to Division III powerhouse Canal Winchester Harvest Prep. It was that game that prepared the Spartans for their tournament season.

"We love games like that," Ramey said. "We are playing really great talent and it helps us for these tournament runs. It doesn't matter what the outcome of those games are, we play them to get ready for the tournament."

The Spartans loaded their schedule up just for that reason with games against Bishop Hartley, Berlin Hiland and Bishop Waterson to go with Harvest Prep.

"That is the gameplan with it," Jakubick said. "I always try to make our schedule as hard as possible. We played Harvest Prep and we got lit up. They might be the best team in Division III and II. They could be better than Cornerstone was last year and it was great because you face that kind of pressure; what else are you going to face? I feel it is better to be challenged like that than to play teams you believe you are going to beat anyway."

The three-time defending district champs also have a gear they kick in during tournament time which was certainly activated on Tuesday.

"Just in practice, you can feel that everyone has another level of focus come tournament time," Henrich said. "Everyone is really picking each other up and this is the time we come together as a team."

The Spartans improved to 14-8 and will play for a sectional title.

The Big Red fell to 12-11 and saw their season come to a disappointing end. The mustered nine points in the first half and scored just eight in the third before putting up 25 in the fourth. St. Peter's nearly had a running-clock on them at the beginning of the fourth.

"We didn't run them off the 3-point line in the first half," Shelenberger said. "Luke got hot and when you score single digits in three of four quarters, you aren't going to win much. Most teams would quit, but my kids didn't. It seemed we couldn't do anything right for three quarters."

"They were freshmen when I started as a varsity head coach so I had them all four years," Shelenberger said. "Those kids show up to work all summer long and don't give attitude. Jake gets a lot of the headlines because of his scoring ability, but guys like Kade Collins, Anthony Montgomery and Blake Gibson give it everything every game."

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Flames fizzle

The Mansfield Christian Flames saw their season come to an end on Tuesday night with a 59-29 loss to Sandusky St. Mary's Central Catholic.

After trailing just 23-20 at the half, the Flames scored just nine points in the second half and committed 19 turnovers in the final two quarters to get bounced from the tournament.

"It was like the floor fell out from under us," Mansfield Christian coach Adam Parrott said. "Everything that we did and prepared for just didn't happen. They executed way better than us and we just couldn't get it done tonight. I hate it for these seniors. To see them in so much pain and disappointment is hard."

No Flames player finished in double-figures as Noah Cyphers led the way with seven points. The Flames scored just two points in the fourth quarter.

"Some of the guys just tried to do too much," Parrott said. "They tried to put the team on their back and do the heavy lifting and with a team like ours, we cannot do that. We need everyone pulling their own weight. Turnovers have plagued us all year."

The Flames finish the year at 5-18 and say goodbye to six seniors in Elisha Jessee, JC Mangan, Noah Cyphers, Parker Stigall, Ethan Barry and Jared Mount.

"They have a lot of class and character and carry themselves well," Parrott said. "They are great representations of our school and it is going to be a big loss. Every single one of them have been a blessing to coach."

Other scores

Division II sectional semifinal: Shelby 61, Sandusky 59

The Shelby Whippets picked up a win over Sandusky to keep their season alive winning 61-59.

Uriah Schwemley and TJ Pugh led the Whippets with 16 points apiece while Cody Lantz added 13, Tanner Stephens added eight and Grant Gossom and Nick Amstutz rounded out the scoring with four apiece.

The Whippets improve to 12-11 on the year cementing a .500-season or better. They advance to the sectional final taking on Vermilion at 6:15 p.m. on Friday at Bucyrus High School.

Division III sectional semifinal: Crestview 55, Wynford 54 2OT

The Crestview Cougars picked up a thrilling double-overtime win over the Wynford Royals in the Division III sectional semifinal 55-54.

The Cougars improve to 5-18 on the year and move on to play Willard at 6:15 p.m. on Friday at Hopewell-Loudon.